


The Raspberry Patch (Or, How Florrie Came to Brightvale)

by TheShinyShovel



Series: Shiny's Neo-Adventures [1]
Category: Neopets
Genre: Bookstores, Friendship, Gen, Sisters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:09:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheShinyShovel/pseuds/TheShinyShovel
Summary: When Morrie's job at The Raspberry Patch bookstore in Brightvale is is jeopardy, she isn't quite sure what to do. She is a very plain bori after all. But perhaps her new friend Florrie, a young chatterbox of a sorceress, can help her out!
Series: Shiny's Neo-Adventures [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088855
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Business Ain't Good

**Author's Note:**

> Please bear with me. This is my first story posted to AO3. 
> 
> I'm not sure how often I will update, it really depends on life. Regardless, I'm just doing this for fun writing practice, and I hope you like it. Thanks for reading! :)

The most interesting thing about the bookstore Morrie worked at was why it was named as such. The Raspberry Patch, a rather odd name for a bookstore in Brightvale (a town with more bookstores than most others), got its’ name from the open farm market just down the street. A bookstore named after its neighbour, but it suited the store just fine. Or, at least it did at one point.

“Business ain’t good these days, dear,” the elderly gnorbu shop owner sighed, “too much competition in Brightvale these days. Too many bookstores.”

“But Ms. Woollden, we’re in Brightvale. There’s more bookstores here than just about _anywhere_ else!” The yellow bori said.

“Yes, but, if the customers don’t come…” Ms. Woolden clicked her tongue and looked down at the floor.

“You mean…”

“Yes, it might be time to close up The Raspberry Patch for good.”

Morrie looked at her surroundings, looking at anything was better than looking at her boss right now. The walls of the shop were a dull powder blue, painted sometime long before Morrie moved to town (perhaps even before Morrie was _born_ ), and most of the books on the shelves had never been touched since Morrie had last dusted them. Through the front window, she could see more Neopets pass by The Raspberry Patch without a single thought. It was as if the little shop had ceased to exist. Morrie gulped, a pit forming at the bottom of her stomach.

Ms. Woollden gently placed a hand on the bori’s shoulder. “If we can find a way to attract some more customers by the end of the month, we might just make it.”

“We might?”

“You’re a smart lass Morrie, start thinking up some ideas to make The Raspberry Patch shine again.”

"Y-yes ma’am.”

“Good. Now, I’ve got some errands to run, but you'll see me tomorrow.”

“Alright, see you later.” Morrie waved as Ms. Woollden shut the door to the Raspberry patch. She exhaled heavily as soon as her boss was out of view in the front window.

* * *

The Raspberry Patch was a rather plain bookstore, and Morrie thought herself a rather plain bori. She didn’t mind this, however. She liked her life. For one, it was much warmer for most of the year, unlike where she grew up on Terror Mountain. Secondly, it was quiet, but not _too_ quiet. Happy Valley bustled in the Month of Celebrating, but during the off-season (which was most of the time) the whole area became a ghost town, especially in the neighbouring villages. Morrie’s little cottage in the forest between Brightvale and Meridell was just the right amount of quiet, and when she got tired with it, she could always go for a stroll in either town to liven her spirits. Nothing could liven Morrie’s spirits right now though. Being a rather plain bori, she thought herself very incapable of Ms. Woollden’s task.

“I’m no good at these things, Flutters! What am I to do?” Morrie sighed, sweeping the floor for the third time today.

Flutters, Morrie’s pet Gobbler, squawked from their plushy cushion on a chair in the corner of the shop. Once almost becoming someone else’s Day of Giving dinner, Morrie adopted her little feathered friend when it had stumbled upon her garden.

“If I don’t think of something, then I’ll lose my job. If I lose my job, I won’t have money. And if I don’t have money, I won’t have any money to buy food other than what I grow. And if I don’t have food I’ll _starve_!” Broom forgotten, Morrie pulled on her ears and paced the store. She was just a rather plain bori, nothing particularly special in a place like Brightvale, full of scholars and well-read Neopets, surely brimming with creativity and good ideas.

Flutters sqwuaked again, ruffling their feathers and sitting up in the chair. They weren’t looking at their owner, however. They were looking at the customer who just walked in The Raspberry Patch.

_A customer in The Raspberry Patch._ The first one today, and it was just past 1 o’clock. Morrie let go of her ears and quickly turned around. She smoothed out her tunic and greeted the customer. A cloud shoyru. Just a kid.

“Oh…hi there! Can I help you?”

“Have you got any magic books?”

That’s when Morrie saw the shoyru’s small wand strapped onto her belt. Huh, an apprentice sorceress. Brightvale was primarily mostly home to people who studied books and parchments as well as whatever magic involved, like potion-making or motes, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise for Morrie to see someone like this kid in here. However, Morrie never saw many magical folk on this side of town, but then again, she didn’t see much of anyone in the Raspberry Patch. Not that Morrie knew much about magic or anything, anyway. Being a rather plain bori meant she knew little about it.

Morrie thought for a moment. “I’m…I’m not sure.“

“I’ve checked out all the other bookshops in town, and none of them have the introductory book for my class.”

“What’s it called?” Morrie asked.

“ _Wands and Basic Spells_ , the first volume.” The shoyru said, beginning to wander through the store.

Now that Morrie thought about it, didn’t Ms. Woollden tell her something about that stuff? When Morrie first started working at The Raspberry Patch, she remembered Ms. Woollden mentioning something about magic books. But since so few sorcerers, witches, wizards and the like stopped in at all, Morrie hadn’t bothered to remember.

“Hey! I found it!” The shoyru shouted, holding up the exact book she was looking for, causing Flutters to squawk in surprise.

"You did?” Morrie said, more surprised than anything.

“Yeah, just on the bottom shelf here.”

Morrie crouched down to get a better look. Shoved behind a few mystery novels was more than just _Wands and Basic Spells, Volume 1_. Volumes 2, 3, and 4 were there too!

"Huh, I didn’t know we carried books like that.” Morrie mumbled aloud, “Alright…want to buy it?”

The shoyru nodded, and then pulled a money pouch out of her pocket. That’s when she gasped.

“There’s a hole in it!” The shoyru cried poking her hand through the hole, “That was everything I had!”

Morrie just stood there, listening to the young shoyru continue to babble until those babbles threatened to become blubbers.

“Hey, hey.” Morrie tried to comfort, but it came out more nerve-wracked than soothing,” Um…you really need this, right?”

The shoyru nodded her head up and down.

Morrie gulped. She had always gotten nervous around people crying. Oh god, what was she going to do? She couldn’t let this kid walk out of the store empty-handed, but she also couldn’t give her the book for free. Morrie wasn’t exactly rolling in the dough either. Not with the way The Raspberry Patch was going.

_Wait!_ That was it!

“Y-you can have the book.”

The shoyru stopped crying for a moment, and looked up at the bori.

“Instead of money though, can you help me with something?”

The shoyru smiled, her head bobbing up and down so excitedly that Morrie swore the shoyru started floating. “Okay! What is it?”


	2. Supper

Florrie, which was the name of suddenly penniless shoyru, did not stop talking for the entire walk home to Morrie’s cottage between Brightvale and Illusen’s Glade, and that took about 15 minutes one-way. In fact, she did not stop talking until she and Morrie were sitting at the kitchen table of the homey kitchen, steaming bowls of vegetable stew sitting right in front of them.

Well, Florrie stopped talking for the minute it took her to eat her first bite.

“This is _so_ amazing, Morrie! You’re a really good cook!” The shoryru gushed.

“Thanks, but really, it’s nothing.”

“No really! I didn’t get a chance to eat today at all!” Florrie continued to shovel food into her mouth.

“There’s plenty more if you’d like,” Morrie said, petting Flutters at her side. He too was eating a bowl of the stew.

And then it was quiet. The three of them ate their meal. Morrie basked in the silence until Florrie got up to pour more stew into her bowl. When she sat down again, Morrie cleared her throat.

“I suppose I should tell you the thing I need help with, yeah?” Despite Florrie’s nonstop chatter from the walk to all the way home, Morrie hadn’t a chance to mention The Raspberry Patch Problem.

“Your bookstore’s going out of business, isn’t it?”

Morrie coughed. “How’d you know?” How _did_ some scatterbrained kid like this notice? Was it really that obvious?

Florrie began counting the reasons on her fingers. “Um…no customers except me, door in desperate need of paint, and there were spyder cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling.”

Morrie sighed. Okay, so perhaps Florrie wasn’t so scatterbrained after all. Had she really forgotten to clear the cobwebs? Hopefully Ms. Woollden hadn’t seen them.

“Look, I don’t know what to do. The shop owner’s asked me to figure something out, but as you can probably tell, I’m not exactly good at this.”

“So…you want me to help you think of something that could save the store.” Florrie said.

“Yes.” Morrie mumbled under her breath. She did, in fact, feel a little foolish. She was asking a stranger to help her. Pure chance Florrie showed up. And what if it didn’t work? This was all a little much for a plain bori such as herself.

“Great! We’ll think of something!” Florrie grinned, polishing off her second bowl of stew.

_Well, it’s worth a shot._ Morrie thought.


	3. Nothing Special

Apparently, Florrie had nothing better to do than follow Morrie to work. The academy for young mages wasn’t starting until the end of the month, and considering how Florrie broke not one, but two plates while helping wash last night’s dishes, Morrie thought it would be safer for everyone to have her tag along. Morrie briskly walked down the dirt path towards Brightvale, while Florrie and Flutters flew just above.

When the shoyru stopped talking for a moment, Morrie managed to squeeze in a question. “So, where are you from, Florrie? Do your folks know you’re here?” Morrie had thought it odd the young shoyru had talked about everything under the sun besides her family.

Florrie frowned. “Haven’t got any here. That’s why I crashed on your couch!”

Morrie raised an eyebrow. Before she could inquire more, Florrie did a flip, and then sped up, leaving a surprised bori and gobbler in her dust.  
“Race you to town!” Florrie yelled behind her.

Shrugging off the odd conversation, Morrie smiled a little and yelled back “That’s cheating! Wait up!” She broke out into a run, her petpet squawking not far behind.

* * *

  
Morrie set down the broom behind the counter in its usual spot. Clearing away the cobwebs on the exposed-beam ceiling of The Raspberry Patch had cheered her spirits a little. Still, the bookstore still had a long ways to go.

“Sprucing up this place I think could help make it more attractive to customers.” Morrie said, somewhat forgetting that Florrie was in the store with her.

“But cleaning alone won’t help.” The shoyru said, gently petting Flutters, who was sitting on her lap.

“I know, but it’s a start.” Morrie shrugged, grabbing a fluffy duster. “Here, take this.”

“But I don’t work here.” Florrie whined.

“If you’re just gonna sit there, you’re gonna clean.” Morrie said, grabbing a bucket. “I’m just going to fill this up with water in the back. Back in a minute, okay?” She didn’t give the shoyru a chance to answer.

Now that she was alone, Florrie took a greater look around the store. The Raspberry Patch didn’t look much more different than the other bookstores she visited yesterday, and Florrie was pretty sure she had visited each and every one. What was different? Florrie thought. It had a rather odd name, for starters. Florrie quickly scanned a bookshelf. It was full of nonfiction titles ( _Caring for Ukali, 101 Uses for Dandelions, Gardening in Brightvale_ ), nothing particularly special or out of the ordinary. The fiction and mystery shelves were about the same too. Nothing special.

“There’s a bunch of good stuff here, yeah?” Morrie had come back into the shop without Florrie noticing.

“What makes the Raspberry Patch different?” Florrie asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…Every bookstore here’s just about the same as every other one here. What makes The Raspberry Patch’s so special?” Florrie began pacing the floor, “Maybe if we figure that out, we can think of an idea to save it.”

“Used to bustle with young magical folk like you once,” Ms. Woollden said, the front door opening.

“Really?” Both Morrie and Florrie looked at the old gnorbu.  
  
“Yes, it did.” Ms. Woollden bent down to pet Flutters, who had come to greet her, “I haven’t a bit of magic in my bones, but I thought it fascinating. I used to sell quite a lot of books for magical folk, especially for students.”

 _Why didn’t you tell me this? It could’ve helped._ Morrie thought to herself.

Florrie grinned, “That’s why I found the book I needed here! I couldn’t find it anywhere else!”

Ms. Woollden nodded, “Most of the bookstores around here nowadays don’t carry things like that anymore. It’s all been concentrated to the scrolleries and small shops near the academies and castle. Those are new, just used to be little bookstores like mine that sold things like that.”

“But how come you’re all the way out here?” Morrie asked, leaning an arm on the counter, “We’re right next to the market, none of the magical folk come this way most of the time.”

“I wanted a bookstore where everyone could find something interesting,” Ms. Woollden smiled, thinking of better days, “Everyone’s got to eat, so they’d show up eventually. But town’s bigger these days, most folks take the new shortcut.” Ms. Woollden was referencing the new street built on the edge of town, linking the academic district right to the market. Instead of locals and (especially visitors), meandering through town and discovering The Raspberry Patch, they could cut right to the chase.

“I…I hadn’t thought of that.” Morrie thought. She hadn’t known the street connecting the two areas together was new. It must’ve been built just before she had moved here. That would also explain how Ms. Woollden had kept the store open so long. This was a relatively novel problem, thought not too novel. Morrie had lived here a few years now. The Raspberry Patch Problem took time to develop. Morrie didn’t have that time to fix it, unfortunately.

“I should have told you this yesterday, dear.” Ms. Woollden looked to Morrie, “I did not want you to worry about it all at once.”

Before Morrie could respond, Florrie jumped in. “It’s alright! Morrie’s got me to help her!”

Ms. Woollden gave the child a quizzical look. “I see…so you two are thinking up ideas to get more customers in here?” She raised an eyebrow at the bori, who looked like she was beginning to shrink behind the counter. She had no idea who Florrie was. Morrie prayed that the shoyru wouldn’t mention her freebie book.

Unfortunately for Morrie, it was a little more brash than that.

“You should repaint The Raspberry Patch first.” Florrie said, flapping her wings once, “The front door especially.” Florrie grinned at Morrie, “You said the old coat was probably twice your age, right Morrie?”

Morrie coughed. “U-um…yeah…maybe. Sunlight probably just bleached it.” She adjusted the glasses on her face and chewed on her bottom lip, not daring to look at her boss.

Ms. Woollden didn’t flinch. “Hm…a new coat is in order…anyway, I just thought I would stop in again after our conversation yesterday, Morrie.”

“Y-yes ma’am.”

“I have to go now, but you’ll be alright, won’t you?”

“Y-yes ma’am!” Morrie actually looked at Ms. Woollden this time.

The old gnorbu chuckled. “Relax, Morrie. Your little cousin here’s a little spitfire here. I’m sure you two working together will make this whole job easier.” And with that, Ms. Woollden walked out of the store.

A beat passed. Neither bori nor shoyru spoke.

“Can I be your cousin? We’re like, not related-related, but family’s family. Oh! Wait, can I be your sister instead? I’ve always wanted a sister.”

Morrie took a deep breath. Could a plain bori like her save her livelihood _and_ sanity?


	4. Morrie's Days Off Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! Life's been busy.

One big thing that Morrie liked about working at The Raspberry Patch was that her days off usually occurred consecutively. It gave her time to actually get things done around the cottage. For someone who lived alone (well, not including Flutters), the to-do list never ended!

“What are we gonna do today, Morrie?” Florrie said, drying her porridge bowl with a towel. No broken dishes today…so far…

“Um…what do you mean?” Morrie asked. Her plans for today were weeding the garden, laundry, reading the next chapter of her library book, and perhaps, if she had time, finally get around her filing down her claws (they were starting to tear at her bedsheets again).

“Y’know…like sister-stuff. Having fun! Going on an adventure.”

 _“For the last time, I’m not your—”_ Morrie muttered under her breath, but decided to stop when the shoyru actually looked at her to listen. She cleared her throat. “Uh, well. I’m not much the adventuring type, and I—”

“Well, I am! So I’m gonna teach you! It’ll be fun!”

“Florrie, I’ve got a lot of stuff around here to do today. I can’t just go galivanting around, y’know.”

“What’s galivanting mean?”

Morrie wanted to pull at her ears again, but thankfully her paws were still submerged in the kitchen sink. She took a deep breath, pulled her paws out from the sink and dried them off with a free towel. “Y’know what? It really is a lovely day. We should go out. Maybe we’ll think of something to save The Raspberry Patch!”

“Awesome!” Florrie put the last dried dish away in the cupboard, “But seriously, what does galivanting mean?”

* * *

“I’m not sure how Illusen is going to give us advice on saving a bookshop.”

“Well, I do. She’s cool and smart. Faeries are real smart. Plus, she’s got _magic!_ ”

Both bori and shoyru continued their walk towards Illusen’s Glade. Morrie wasn’t sure about all this. Not that she didn’t like faeries, of course. Illusen did good work for the people of Meridell and Brightvale, and not one person Morrie had met thought poorly of her (and if they did, they didn’t dare utter it). Faeries were fine, but Morrie’s mind was racing. She was sure Illusen was busy, after all. A faerie like her had, she supposed, lots of things to do (Morrie knew little of magical Neopets folk, lest about faerie folk. What was Florrie’s idea, here? What if--)!

“C’mon Morrie, we’re here!” Florrie had run a bit ahead of Morrie, “Hurry up!”

The two Neopets approached the glade, entering the emerald shade under the forest trees, a welcome cool from the heat of the late-summer sun. They could see Illusen’s little house not too far off from the entrance, surrounded by vines and leafy plants, far more than Morrie knew the names of. There wasn’t anyone here, no Neopet or faerie. How odd. Morrie had only stopped by here when she first moved into the area, but she had been told that Illusen rarely left home, and if she did, she left a note. It was during that thought Morrie quickly discovered why the glade was vacant this morning.

“Hey, Illusen left a note on her door.” Florrie waved a piece of mint-green paper at Morrie.

“What’s it say?” Morrie asked, approaching closer to Florrie.

“BE BACK SOON. THANKS!” Florrie read aloud. “Ah, I guess we’ll just have to wait.”

Both bori and shoyru stood still for the grand total of two minutes before Florrie was done waiting.

“Okay, I’m gonna go sit inside. I’m sure Illusen won’t mind too much.” Florrie walked towards the front door of the cottage.

“ _What?_ You can’t just walk into someone’s house when they’re not home!” Morrie yelled, running to catch up to the shoyru.

Florrie either didn’t listen or didn’t hear Morrie (or perhaps a little bit of both). Instead, she opened the door to the earth faerie’s home. Apparently, faeries didn’t believe in locks. Then again, who would be brazen enough to enter a faerie’s home uninvited? Apparently the answer to that would be Florrie.

Morrie froze in her tracks. They were _done_. Could faeries place curses if they got angry enough? Could Illusen even _get_ that angry? Morrie didn’t want to find out, but apparently she wasn’t going to get a choice in the matter. Though Morrie’s feet felt like lead, and she could neither run back out of the glade or into the house, Florrie had already stepped into what was likely the main room of the cottage.

“MORRIE! There’s like some drawings and posters and even a doll of a purple and green faerie in here. Do you know any purple and green faeries?”

Before Morrie could respond, vines twisted themselves tightly around her legs, locking her more in place than her anxiety was already doing. Another bunch of vines whipped by her head and reached into the cottage, dragging Florrie out.

_“Excuse me, but what exactly are you doing?”_

* * *

Morrie picked yet another leaf out of her ear, adding it to the growing pile of leaves and small twigs on her kitchen table. She was pretty sure there were more in there too, or perhaps the swirling wind and blew both her and Florrie out of the glade once Florrie mentioned what she saw in the cottage was still ringing in her ears. Either way, Morrie was pretty sure there were at least a few more leaves in her ears, and she would definitely need to do laundry again sooner rather than later.

“Okay, so that didn’t go as well and I’d hoped.” Florrie said, wiping stay crumbs of dirt off her shirt and trousers and onto the kitchen floor.

“That would be an understatement.” Morrie replied, trying to ignore the growing scatter of soil at her and Florrie’s feet.

“But…that’s just the beginning! It’s not even lunch time yet! What are we gonna do now?”

“You….” Morrie could feel her blood pressure rising. She hadn’t seen many faeries in her life, but she was pretty sure they never got _that_ angry. This is not how Morrie wanted to spend her days off, not at all.

“What’s wrong, Morrie?”

Morrie took a deep breath. “I think…I think I need the afternoon off. I have some chores.”

“What type of chores?” Florrie asked, “Maybe I could help!”


End file.
